Word of the World
by HoiHoiSoi
Summary: There once existed a word that held everything into place. One day, it vanished and all hell broke loose. The world ceased to exist. This is the story of the Grand Chase in its attempt to save the world from the absolute end. The clock starts ticking now.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: The day the earth came to an end**

The word. The word that created the earth. The word was with us. It was the word that kept us alive. It is the word. The word that has kept the earth spinning for the past few billion years. The word. It would soon disappear along with all human kind.

_-Kingdom of Bermesiah: Serdin-_

There was a shop somewhere in the cozy warm street of the sun shine filled city, red banners were hung and flags of the great Serdin empire waved in all its glory in its stunning coats of gold, green and red outside it's doors. The great walls of the shop were lined with festive colours of fresh flowers. From roses to daffodils to orchids, they all sat well on the wall, clinging on the metal bars which were already partially rusted from all the rain and sun that it had braved over the years. The stone walls which held up the bars, were given a fresh coat of indigo paint. The windows which looked tinted from the outside sat on the second and first floors of the building. Each were about five meters apart from each other. The tint reflected whatever image on the outside and created a sort of mirror effect. But if one looked closely enough, red curtains with silvery gold ends could be seen hanging on the other side of the window. The shop stood out as one of the grand features of the event at hand, The Anniversary of the Uprising of Serdin.

People from all ethnic groups and classes gathered around the shop, in wait of its grand revelation. Top hats, sailor suits, dotted ties, army vests, silk sandals, leather shoes, all these people came in many many types of shapes and colours. From the plumpest and biggest to the shortest and smallest. All gathered as they awaited for the shop the open their doors.

A teenage girl with a pointy black hat which looks slightly crumpled at the top stood nervously in the middle of the crowd. Her purple hair wavered in the light breeze that played around in the streets. Her eyes of purple twitched and rolled around cautiously. Her mouth was in an almost upside down 'U' shape. Her hands clenched fiercely on a giant book as she mingled in with the crowd. Her legs looks as if they could collapse any moment, they were shivering nervously. Her one piece dress of purple, white, violet and slight gold which were supposed to fit her slim and shy built draped on her like an oversized piece of cloth. She didn't really mind, soon she was going to experience sweet sweet sensation.

Her shivering hands finally came to a halt when the biggest window on the top floor of the building burst open with a giant white mist that filled the air with bright and colourful scents. The crowd began to cheer as all of their eyes turned to the window. Slowly, a giant golden bell appeared on the balcony lined with even more flowers. A man, wearing a baker's hate and a white chef suit came out from the side of the bell. His moustache stood out like a black dot on a piece of white paper, it was oddly shaped and it looked unevenly trimmed. His baker's hat slanted to one side and his white uniform was drenched with sweat. None the less, his eyes glimmered with red hot fiery passion as he held up a small ladle.

"COME AND GET IT!"

He hit the shining golden bell hard several time, making a giant sound wave that lifted the crowd's spirit even more. The ringing could be heard as far as 7 miles away and it informed people that 'The Cake Café' was now opened for Serdin Day and that meant.

"FREE CAKES AND PASTRIES!" The crowd exclaimed as they rushed into the store just as its two massive door flung open while golden glitter was being sprayed from on top to the people below.

The girl in purple lifted her head and took off her hat. She opened her mouth and let some glitter land on her tongue. A great overwhelming and electrifying taste of sweet and mellowish sour filled her mouth. It was heaven for a sweet tooth like her. She frolicked in the flitter for the moment while letting the sun warm her body to get ready for the feast of donuts and bagels awaiting her.

"Arme! Arme!" A voice called out from above.

The purple girl looked up as she saw the white baker with the odd moustache waving at her. She waved back.

"HI! UNCLE!" She exclaimed looking at the queer old man. Her grin was as large as ever as she waved her arm along with her baggy hat. It looked as if she was going to throw it up to him, but she wouldn't do that. The hat after all has a tendency to breakdown under nervous conditions.

"Arme! Arme! Stop that! You're making me nauseas!" The hat spoke in an almost dizzy manner.

"Get in! It's going to finish quick like every year!" Her uncle called from above.

Arme turned behind to look for her friends. "Hey guys! The shop is opened!" she exclaimed.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A piercing scream from a lady's throat could be heard from behind. Arme turned and saw a body. Dressed in a yellow orange one piece dress but now drenched in murky crimson red blood was a lady lying on the floor. She was sprawled on the floor like a dead octopus. Arme felt her stomach churn for a moment. And then…

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

A man in blue this time fell from the sky and splattered on the ground like a red drop of paint. This time, Arme could suddenly feel her entire stomach and intestine swell up inside. Her guts were on fire and she was controlling herself to keep it in. Her dress was now splashed with drops and sprinkles of blood.

"WWWOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!"  
>"NWAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"<br>"GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

More people fell out from the sky. It was almost as if it was raining humans. Arme's eyes swelled up with tears as she saw the devastating streets now scattered with lifeless pale white bodies. She covered her mouth. Just then, she felt her legs lose balance. She looked at the ground and suddenly noticed she was standing in a giant crumpling dent.

"AHHHHHHH!"

She turned up to look. The familiar voice pierced her heart as she tried to focus on the screaming man. A drop of cold sweat ran down her now pale and almost lifeless face. She saw, she witnessed it.  
>Her uncle fell from the window of the cake shop and splattered on the street flat with blood gushing out from his bald head. His once white hat and uniform now turned into a brownish red colour. The cake shop too started crumbling and giant rocks came crashing down on him, making an even bigger puddle of blood. It was horror, pure devastation.<p>

"Un….UNCLE!"

Just as she was about to run to him, the ground underneath crumbled only to reveal a hollow darkness.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Arme screeched as her voice slowly disappeared into the darkness.

A cold sweat finally broke as Arme got up from bed. She quickly threw her dirty and dusty blanket to one side and rushed to the toilet nearest to her. She felt gastric juices burning her oesophagus. Her shirt was nothing but a white cloth wrapped around her and nothing else. She was afraid it would get dirty too so she pulled it off and went into the toilet stark naked. Her legs took her to the sink which was coloured in an ugly dark green, brown and black of moss. She turned to the sink hole just in time as she felt her mouth fill with a nasty sour and bitter taste.

She opened her mouth and vomit came flowing out. Her stomach churned and churned over and over again. And for a few seconds, she lost all air in her lungs as the acidic liquid came flowing out of her mouth. After a few mouthfuls, she stopped and her bloodshot eyes started to focus around the room.

The toilet was dark and eerie. It had a rusted shower top which she clearly remembered as the water that ran through it tasted like rust or rather iron. The broken and damp cement floor under her legs crippled her with a few small shards of rocks and pebbles. The mirror in front of her was broken and the tap was covered in a slimy orange brown moss which would make anybody nauseated just by looking at it. But not Arme, not anymore.

She took a few steps outside the toilet where the cement was covered with light wooden planks. In the room, she could see the dirty, dusty and blackened bed which she was just sleeping on. The blanket she used to cover herself with was lying on it. A soft paper like texture suddenly filled the underneath of her right foot. It was the white cloth she used to cover herself with. Without a word, she picked it up and draped it over her shoulder. Her naked body had scars and wounds on it, and that was the only purpose of the cloth, to cover them for healing, nothing else. She didn't really care if a boy accidentally saw her naked. Not anymore that is.

Arme's eyes turned to the cupboard on the opposite side of the bed and she walked towards it. Her hands pulled it open and a few mice which were chewing on a small piece of wood came scuttering out. Her eyes showed no amount of concern. The mice had nipped her a few times before. At first she was furious, now she just didn't care anymore. Arme gazed at her once magnificently coloured purple dress lying on the cheap wooden floor of the cupboard, now it was partially nipped away, dusty and black. Her blood shot eyes seemed to show little expression when looking at it, but she stared at it for a few moments. She closed her eyes and closed the cupboard doors.

Next, she turned her attention to the dusty window which was about the only thing in the room that was actually intact. She drifted towards it as she stepped on a few wooden planks that made a light hearted squeaky sound. She remembered how fun it was playing with such a plank, now, her mind was totally blank, the sound didn't even make any sense to her now anymore.

She finally reached the window. Her blood shot eyes peered through the thick dust. And she saw the same scene she'd seen every day, ever since she came to this forbidden land. It was a wasteland with nothing else. Her naked body stood right in front of the window. Why hadn't she cared about anything anymore? About her hair? Her clothes? Her dignity? She thought. Then suddenly an overwhelming sadness and pain from all those memories she constantly dreams about every night came to haunt her. The eyes that was once always in a cherry mood now filled with warm sad tears. Her heart broke into two as she fell to the floor and lay there crying like she had done for the past three weeks.

This was because she knew the answer to the question she had just thought of. The answer was simple really, and it was because nobody existed any more.

The world had already ended.

_-To be continued….-_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Death of Arme**

And so days past, becoming weeks, becoming months. Arme, now looked more and more like an uncivilised barbarian. Her eyes had soaked up too much tears already and were constantly bloodshot. Her emotions were somehow impaired as they reacted to nothing around her. She dragged her feet like dead weights around the compound of her abandoned shelter, looking for any remaining supply of food. Her once lively and active senses were now dull and useless. But she didn't really care anymore, after all, nobody existed, that meant no war, no enemies, it was totally safe. Her only concern was food and water. So far, the place she had somehow landed in stored quite a supply of these commodities. But after 4 months or so, it started to reduce significantly. The once full attic was now backed up to about a quarter of whatever it stored left. And this drove Arme to look around the compound for more food and water.

_Survival of the fittest? _Arme thought to herself.

"Yea right…." She whispered sarcastically under her breath. What was she so fit about? She couldn't even lift some more than ten kilograms. Arme was weak and she knew it, the only reason she was alive was most probably because whoever threw her down there was looking from above, tormenting her, laughing and criticising her just for the heck of it. She however did not know if this was true fact or not so she could not say anything to counter react her thought.

Room by room she passed by. Empty halls upon empty halls she walked pass. Her footsteps echoed in the wide and large hallways. Broken doors and glass from windows lay scattered around on the floor. She avoided them easily.

Suddenly, a moan. Arme closed her eyes for a moment. She had been hearing the strange moanings for the past 4 months now, ever since she came to this hell hole. The moan slowly faded away as her mind dismissed it as another of her strange imaginations, and recently she had been experiencing some really bizarre ones. A walking headless horse in the front garden. A student in completely white uniform standing on the room of the building. A woman with long hair sitting alone in a corner of the building. Moving paintings that portrayed death. A slowly and steady piano song being played from within the compound. The knocking of doors all around her that seemed to be calling her out from her room. The ghostly cries of a young girl somewhere down one of the hallways. All these occurrences were firstly looked at as ghost, spirits and the likes. Now, she learned to block out everything by just closing her eyes for a few seconds and continuing on.

After observing the building's interior for the past 4 months, she had concluded that it used to be a school building. It was equipped with half broken black boards and dusters. The floors were often covered in a thick layer of stained yellow and white chalk. Dashboards which seemed to have been ripped out from their places lay hanging around the hallways. Notices and flyers in some weird foreign language were scattered all around the compound. An old giant clock hung on the pinnacle of the compound that made it even seems more like a school. After taking all aspects and putting in the loose pieces, it just had to be a school. Probably just built in the middle of nowhere.

She walked pass a classroom and then….

"Ah! There you are!" Arme heard a voice and turned to the windows of the class room. There was a boy in it or so she thought at least. The dusty window of the old class room blocked her view, all she could make out was a faint blue and silver shirt along with silver gloves and just a tiny portion silver hair. The boy's face however was covered by a big smudge of dust on the window. "Silly girl! You got lost again didn't you? Don't worry, now I've found you we can head back. Kay?" The voice seemed to call to Arme. She recognised it.

"Lass!" She said as she rushed for the entrance of the classroom. But as she looked through the rectangular hole which seemed to make up the entrance to the room. Nobody was there. Not a soul. Not even an object. Just the cement floor and windows. Arme's eyes swelled up as she recalled a distant memory from about 6 months back when she got lost in the deep streets of Serdin. It was then that Lass suddenly found her. She was taken back to a group of hearty friends and a scrumptious dinner. The line that Lass had said to her sticked in her mind. And now, it seemed to be playing on her sub consciousness.

Droplets of tears formed beneath her eyes. She bit the bottom half of her lips and turned parallel to the hallway she was walking down and continued on. Her heart had broke into two again, but she knew how to handle it now. She hadn't gone through one day without tears. She walked down the long hallway. It seemed like forever. A feeling of loneliness filled the void of her heart that was once filled with content and joy. After walking for a few moments, she stopped. Her expression change as her hair bangs covered her eyes.

"KILL ME ALREADY! DAMN IT! WHY THE HELL MUST I LIVE! IS THERE EVEN ANY POINT ANYMORE! TAKE ME ALREADY DAMN IT! TAKE MY BLOODY SOUL ALREADY!"

Arme started to go into a fit of anger and hysteria. Her clenched hands pounded the broken left wall of the corridor. Tiles and small bit and pieces of cement came raining down as she did so.

"I DON'T DESERVE TO LIVE! DAMN! KILL ME! I WANT TO DIE! KILL ME ALREADY!"

She screamed at the top of her lungs. It wasn't frustration anymore, it was something beyond that that she was feeling.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her voice echoed the hallways. And then….a reply.

"Seriously, shut up already will you?" A man's voice. Shallow and one would consider it in a man's mid-30s. The voice seemed to sound less than irritated but a sense of discomforted could be detected in his tone of speech. Arme was sick of illusions already but she turned just to look at where the voice was coming from.

And there, beside her, stood a long robed individual. The man's hood was taken off and she could see the man's completely lack hair and his pale white face. The man's eyes glimmered in a crimson red. His nose was sharp and seemed to stand out as one of the man's masterpieces. His mouth was shut and was constantly in a position where one would think the man was a sadist of some sort. The robe he was wearing on was completely black, no trace of dust or any impurities seemed to have stained on it.

"Huh?" Arme made a small sound as her brain tried to process what was going on.

"You called me right?" The man asked as he looked at Arme.

"Huuh…?" Arme was even more confused now, she made an effort to wipe the droplets to tears off.

"Man! Not another one of those retards again!" The main exclaimed sarcastically as she saw Arme wiping her tears off.

"Err…." Arme was going to speak, but she couldn't produce the words.

"Ah, you called me! Remember? You asked somebody to bring you death? Yea, that's me. I'm the Grim reaper. Or at least one of his disciples." The man coughed as he said that. He seemed to dislike calling himself a disciple.

"Uh…." Arme was shocked, she didn't know what she said could actually bring her death.

"Come on, is that the only thing you can say? You're going to die already damn it. Talk to me man! I don't like these kinda awkward situations." The man frowned as he turned to look away from Arme.

Arme jumped on the man's waist. It turned out to be a shock for him. Tears began forming in her eyes again. She began to hiccup as the tears rolled down. Was she glad she was going to die? Or was she glad that she finally met someone after four whole months. The man gave a long sigh and the patted Arme on the head like a pet dog.

"It's okay. It's going to be fine from now on so please stop crying." He made a warm smile as he comforted Arme. He was really good at it too because after a few more inspirational lines, Arme stopped and let go of him.

"I bet you have some questions right?" The assistant of the Grim Reaper said to her.

"Ye….yes…." Arme replied nervously, she didn't really seem to mind that she was talking to an associate with Death.

"Fine, then I'll do my introductions first. I'm Hatrick. Hatrick Reaper. Second son of the first son of the Grim Reaper. They say I'm the nicest guy among the rest and I can be a bit too soft. I like watching soccer and eating ham. I come to take the lives of people

who are frustrated, so it's kinda like my job to calm the down. You know? Like you." He replied with a joking snarl.

Arme chuckled slightly and it was a good sign to Hatrick.

"I'm Arme and I was part of the Grand Chase four months ago. Ever since that incident four months ago, I've been trapped here. I don't know how. I just was." Arme replied, now in a solemn tone.

"You survived that thing huh?" Hatrick asked.

"Thing?" Arme asked him in a questionable manner.

"Let me describe it to you. Buildings started to collapse, people fell from the sky. The ground started to give way into eternal darkness. You survived that right?" Hatrick asked.

"Wh…WHAT! How do you!" The purple hair girl seemed to flung her now semi long hair around as she asked in a furious manner.

"I've been handling your type of cases for the past 4 months now. They've been telling me the same thing. So I conclude that it finally expired." The reply was short.

"Expired? What has expired?"

"The word if your world."

"Word? Wha….what?"

"Ah, so you don't know."

"Have you ever heard about the story of the missing star?"

"Missing star? You mean the love story?"

"Yea that one, about those two lovers that finally died together in the end as their whole world crumbled to pieces."

"You mean the one the homeroom teachers talk to us about?"

"Don't know if your homeroom teacher thought you or whatever. But if it's close to that, then yea."

"She said there was a planet in the sky that went missing after that."

"Yup, that's completely right. But you weren't born yet to witness that so I get the feeling that you think she was lying. But it's not a lie."

"Huh?"

"That story originated from the Planet of Orthimus. There were survivors like you that must have landed in your world and spread the story. Anyways, it's long gone."

"So...so then what happened to Orthimus?"

"It crumbled into infinity and beyond. its word had expired just like your planet."

"What is this word! You keep talking about it?"

"Don't get so impatient. Let me explain."

"O…okay. Sorry…"

"Okay. You see, everything is created with an expiry date in the entire universe. Everything is made up of materials, you know the works. And when it is made up of materials, at one point it's going to erode or rot away. The worlds you live in you see. It is held up by one single material. All worlds are actually held up by one single material. That is known as 'The Word'."

"W….word….Okay…..g…go on…"

"Now, once the word expires, the world ends just like that. Millions die and a few sole survivors like yourself live on but after being transported to another world."

"Ughh…."

"No need to feel guilty. In any case. There is no stopping 'The Word' from each world to die off. It just does. And yours just died off a few months back. Now you're in the world of Hilemne. Just in case you're wondering."

"Hilemne? It…it's dead right? Nothing is here."

"No, there is plenty of thriving life here. You just can't see it. This is the world of spirits. And this is a school, filled with people that come here every day. According to some I've just been talking to, they say there is a ghost that haunts them. A purple haired ghost that seems to scream and shout."

"Uhh….thats me…..isn't it?"

"You occasionally hear weird sounds and see weird things. You might think it's your imagination, but no it's not. It's actually a small loop hole in time that allows you to glimpse into their world for a moment."

"I….I see.."

"In any case. Your time is up. Ready to go?"

Hatrick took out a giant scythe. "You can't live in this world." He said solemnly. "Why? Cause you don't belong here." He continued. "So your life as Arme, ends here." He wavered his sight in the air for a few moments.

Arme felt her stomach churn for a moment. For just a brief few minutes after meeting Hatrick, all her heartaches and pains had disappeared. But it would be better if she had died. After all, she could disappear forever and she had nothing to worry about anymore.

"Do you accept your death?" Hatrick questioned her, his emotions were solemn.

"I….I accept…" Her voice turned soft for a moment. Her saliva turned sour as she swallowed her final gulp of saliva.

"Thanks for making my job easy." Hatrick said. "I hereby decree, Miss Arme Glenstid. You do not exist in name and in body anymore. Good bye and Godspeed."

With a slash of his scythe. Arme felt her neck detach from her body. She could see crimson red blood spill all over as her head rolled to the floor and watch her detach body fall to the ground. She saw it all in her last vision. Her friends and family, loved ones and the fun memories she had when she was young. And with that, she closed her eyes as she felt the warm blood from her body comfort her face. And then…..

Total darkness….

_-to be continued-_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The world after death**

Silence…

Darkness…

A chill went across Arme's mind when she remembered the gruesome scene of watching her own body splatter crimson red blood into the air and then falling to the ground flat. Now all she could think and see was darkness.

Was this death? Just floating in darkness for the rest of eternity? Must be pretty boring. She thought, it seemed that she had become more optimistic ever since speaking to Hatrick but never the less, if this was death, it didn't feel that bad at all. She didn't feel hungry or thirsty anymore. Just aimlessly wandering in darkness wasn't such a bad idea to spend the rest of eternity. And so began her long long wait.

Not so long actually.

She had started counting from 1 to about 2 million when she suddenly felt a cold breeze blowing her. She had no body, no head, no hands, no legs, but yet she could sense the breeze. It was such a bizarre feeling that she stopped somewhere at 1,973,447 or probably more. This made her question. Did the world after death have four seasons? Did it even have numbers?

Suddenly a stinging hot feeling erupted out from nowhere. And Arme could specifically point out that it was on her face.

"Oi, you?" A voice called out to her.

And then it was at this moment when Arme regained her vision. She opened her eyes and felt her hands and legs once more. She touched the ground around her and a prickling icy feeling burned the tips of her fingers. The once hot sizzling object had been removed from her face. Her vision started to come into focus as she noticed her surrounding was dark. Something white was falling on her and it seemed to have covered the ground. All except for the place she was lying down upon.

"Heeeeyyyy, you hear me?" A rather sing song like tone was used this time. She could identify it was a boy's voice, probably in his teens or so calling out to her. She looked frantically around and suddenly saw a pair of red and black coloured shoes with zig zag patterns criss crossing all over it. She looked up and saw thick blue jeans that seemed to be just oversized and didn't fit whoever was wearing it. Further up she saw a thick white jacket covering a blue and black shirt that seemed to be mismatched and unfashionable. Then a pock dotted scarf that seemed to hang well on whoever was standing in front of her. And finally, she saw a face. A face, she didn't even seem familiar with.

A boy with completely black hair and some spiky fringe was looking at her. His eyes were a deep blue and his face was peachy and red. His nose was sharp and his features did seem to stand out from other boys she had seen before.

"You awake?" The boy swung something at Arme's face and it hit her softly. The suddenly sizzling feeling came back again and Arme backed away.

"WHAT THE HELL!" She screamed in anger and frustration. She didn't seem to actually fear the boy at all. She took a good look at what really it was and it was a bag with steam flowing out from it. A better look at her surroundings did tell her a lot about where she was. It was a place she hadn't seen once in her life at all. Tall structures which were painted grey and equipped with small black windows seemed to rise a top her. The white thing that looked like cotton that fell down was later identified as snow to her. Another cold gust of wind blew hard on her body which was thinly covered with just a piece of white cloth.

"You okay out here?" The boy questioned. "Ain't right for a girl to sleep in the back alleys man. You a retard or something?" His expression was cool and calm.

"Retard! I'll have you know I'm much more intelligent than most people would ever be!" She screamed at him.

"Ah….you said something?" The guy was picking his ears.

"Yo….YOUUUU!" Arme started chanting a spell as she raised up her hand. "THUNDER BOLT!" She exclaimed as a surge of electricity filled her hands.

"Ah?" The guy looked on as Arme was showing a high five sign at him. "High five…." He high fived Arme.

The electricity that once surged in her hands suddenly disappeared into thin air. "Wha….what!" Arme was slightly shocked. She usually fried anyone who came close to pissing her off with her Thunder Bolt attack which wasn't that fatal of an attack. It would just paralyse you and it would probably take about 3 weeks to completely send the side effects away. In her terms, it was a really short time.

"YOU! YOU! IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME! TELL ME! I WANT TO MPFFFHHH!" The guy chucked something into Arme's mouth. It looked like something he had taken out from the bag he was holding in his right hand. It was warm and slightly slimy, of course that was initial reactions to the object.

"A girl shouldn't go around saying such words. Understand? Now have the yam and calm down." The boy turned away for a moment as Arme finally took out the hot steaming object with her hands. Indeed. It was a steamed yam. Arme pouted her mouth but then still accepted the yam. She took one bite out of it and its gooey, soft and fluffy texture filled her mouth with a creamy bitter sweetness that coloured her taste buds with the most amazing feeling of all time. The feeling of having food when ones stomach was completely empty. And then only did Arme notice that she was indeed hungry.

Eating it fast and effortlessly, she gobbled down every single last bit of the yam. Then a frog's croak came from Arme's stomach. She was still hungry.

"Ca…can I have some more?"

"Huh….?"

-In a park somewhere in the other world-

Arme munched off yams, hot cakes, hot dogs, almost everything the boy bought for her. She was hungry but to eat that much was another story all together.

"You are one weird girl you know that?" The boy said as he watched her eat. His coat seemed to have cushioned a lot of snow from falling down to the ground. He shook his body and the snow fell, just like a pine tree that had been kicked at by children during the winter.

Arme's mouth was full as she swallowed a heap of hot dogs.

"Say what!" She exclaimed to her.

"Pig…." A single letter.

"I'M GONNA! MFFHHGHHHH!" The boy chucked a sandwich into her mouth.

"Seriously, you trust anyone that gives you food?" He continued as he took out his wallet to look at the amount of cash he had left. His fingers moved in a rhythmic beat as he counted the amount of small rectangular shaped green pieces of paper he had left in his wallet.

"I've no choice. I'm hungry after all right?" Arme swallowed the sandwich and replied.

"Must be tough being you?" The boy let off a sigh and he turned to Arme who had stopped eating too.

"Yea….guess so…" Bad memories started to form as she put down whatever she was holding in both her hands.

"So, what's your name?"  
>"Arme."<br>"Full name please."  
>"Uhhh…..what's it to you?"<br>"Just wondering."  
>"Arme Brunstin…."<br>"Weird name huh…"  
>"WHAT!"<br>"Ah! Nothing…."  
>"Grrrr….."<br>"So where are you from? The city?"  
>"C…city? I'm from Serdin."<br>"Serdin? There such a place in this world?"  
>"Well, not this world. My world."<br>"Your world? Lunatic land?"  
>"Well, it's not my world. But it's the world I came from."<br>"Came from? Hehaha! Man! You're real funny you know?"  
>"Huh?"<br>"Came from Mars of something?"  
>"No. Where ever that is."<br>"Seriously now. So you know where are you now?"  
>"Heaven?"<br>"Hahaha! Man! Like you'll ever be able to get in!"  
>"T…this isn't heaven? I…Is this hell…?"<br>"Hell? No way man! This place is sweet you know. Better than hell, probably less than heaven though."  
>"Why do you keep saying this 'man' word. It doesn't make sense."<br>"You serious here? I mean come on, its how I roll."  
>"Roll? You aren't rolling."<br>"Uhuh..."  
>"Whats wrong?"<br>"You seriously taking everything damn literally you know?"  
>"Geh! Whatever!"<br>"Hah! I like your attitude!"  
>"So if this isn't heaven or hell….where am I?"<br>"You are on Earth man. Earth! Aliens like you sure are weird. Come to abduct some of us huh? Haha!"  
>"A…aliens?"<br>"Huh….you don't seem to get alot of things. Do you?"  
>"It's my choice."<br>"Then so be it."

Silence overlay them from a brief moment. Arme's hands were empty now. She was finally full, the white cloth covering her had gathered some snow and she shook it off nervously, afraid of letting the icy menace touch her bare skin.

"You had your fair share?" The boy asked as he pointed to the heap of plastic bags on the chair all coloured in different signs and words. It was obvious that he was asking and Arme nodded.

"Well then. I'll take my leave…." He stood up and started to walk away without even saying goodbye.

"Wa…..wait!" Arme called out. The boy turned and her face was completely flushed. Arme got up and ran towards him. She seemed somewhat flushed during that few moments. She panted a few fake pants and then caught up to the boy.

"Sheesh, what's up man? You going to follow me now?" And so he started walking onto the snow covered pavements of the dark city. Street lamps lit up the way which was dark and lonely. The once lush scenery of snow covered trees and what not was gone, now it was just stone grey buildings row after row after row. Arme followed behind quickly watching the quite town begun to fall into a deep slumber. She saw giant who knows what pass by her minute after minute. Somehow these things did not dare to touch the pavement they were standing on.

"Hey, what are those?" Arme questioned for a brief moment.

"I'm going to pretend you're an alien and answer you from now on, kay?" The boy replied in an annoyed yet cool and calm tone. "It's a car."

"Car? The hell is that!" Arme shot once more.

"You know, it's a thing that can take you around to far places in a short time frame." He shot back at her.

"Ah! You mean you guys use that sort of thing! What about portals? Aren't they much easier." She replied to his statement.

"Portals? We have no portals yet. I'm assuming people casts portals in your world and you just merrily go into it expecting yourself to end up at your preferred destination?" The boy countered.

"Yes, isn't that what normal people would do?" The purple hair of Arme was blown by the cold winter breeze as she said that.

"Normal people? No. People like you? Yea I guess so." The boy began to chuckle.

"You think what I'm saying is real funny huh?" Arme sounded irritated for a moment. "Fine then smart ass. What's your name? State it!" Arme asked in a rude manner.

"Name huh. Depending on which translation you want, name actually has several abstract and concrete meaning. I cannot answer your question due to this lack of specific information. If you wish for me to answer this question of yours, please do be more specific as I am of course a Smart Ass, please and thank you" He was a real smart ass at answering, he turned to Arme and gave a smirk. Arme got pissed at this.

"Fine then! Please state your first and last name which your parents gave to you during the time of birth." Arme questioned, short and direct.

"I've got no parents." The boy answered. Arme staggered behind for a few seconds.

"I…I'm sorry…." Arme turned to look away from the boy. He seemed to be putting on his hood.

"Don't worry about it. In any case, the name's Ace. Ace Mervelli, you know as in 'Fire Fist Ace' from 'One Piece'? I'm 16, still studying. You know, the usual." He answered in a calm manner. So now Arme had something to call him with.

"I see, so Ace." Arme was about to speak when suddenly they walked out from the dirty and dark row of shops and into an empty strip of land which seemed to expand over a vast area. Just ahead was a bridge and the sound of swift flowing water that overlapped each other. It was most likely a really really large river. "Hmmm…." Arme looked at her surroundings.

"Where is this place?" Arme went on with the question.

"Earth?" He was really imagining that Arme was an alien of some sort.

"No, not that. I'm saying. A place name. Continent? Township? You know, the usual things a 'normal person' with your calibre and intellect would say?" Arme contested with Ace.

"Ah, this place? This place would be England. I don't follow the slang they use you know? I got my own one. So no worries. I ain't lying." Ace started to shift from the pavements onto the heavy metal floors that lined the bridge.

Arme went silent at that moment, she had nothing to ask anymore after all. She was now in some unknown world definitely not hell or heaven but a much more logical world, except for 'cars' of course, that didn't seem to fit in Arme's head. Her powers seemed to have been nullified as well and this came to her not as a big surprise because she knew different areas had different percentage to magic in the air that can either restrict or enable less or more flow of magic energy to cast spells and chants of the likes.

Arme found herself walking on a brilliantly lit up bridge. The yellow lights that seemed to be stationed about 10 meters from each other produced a bright glow that made the bridge look even more magnificent. Long cables seem to hold the bridge up as every 7 to 8 meters away, one would be lodged deep into the bridge to one concentrated point at the top of the bridge. This created as sort of triangular shape which amazed Arme. It's structural and artistically aspects spell bound Arme's thoughts. Amazing. It was that to her.

They finally came to the end of the bridge and entered a housing estate of huge houses. Bungalows that seemed higher than Arme by 8 times. All of them were dimmed down as it was night time Arme presumed. They walked silently across these houses. Dim street lamps lit the long street that they were walking on. And it was then that the stillness of air between Arme and Ace could be really felt.

"So where are you going?" Ace finally broke the ice once more.

"I….I…..ummm…" Arme was at a loss of words for a moment.

"No idea huh. You some lost kid or something?" Ace went on with his normal rude tone.

"I don't want to hear that coming from you. We're about the same age." She grunted as she walked on.

"Well, at least I don't fall under the category of 'lost' right?" Rude as ever, Ace.

"I hate to admit it, but yea, I got nowhere to go." Arme turned pale and embarrassed. She was expecting Ace to laugh, he did not.

Ace turned to her. "I'm not doing this for you or anything. But if you want to spend the night at my place, it's okay. After all, I was in the same situation as you. Years back." His face scrutinized as he suddenly evoked dark memories. It was one of pain and sorrow. Arme noticed this and quickly countered.

"Hmph! Who needs your hospitality! But since you offered a beautiful maiden like me to stay over, how could I deny your request, you're lucky! You hear!" Arme exclaimed in a very sarcastic manner. Ace's expression suddenly turned from sour to shock. And then on to laughter. He knew what Arme was doing and really wanted to thank her but it would some so lame.

"Hahaha! Fine then! But you gotta cook meals for me you hear!" And then Ace suddenly stopped in front of a giant bungalow that was the only brightly lit one. Arme stopped too and looked at the house. She was stunned as she looked at the garden and massive structure of the house. Ace turned to her with a happy smirk.

"Welcome to the Mervelli's residence! My private getaway!"

_-to be continued...-_


End file.
